


What the Water Gave Me

by lipglossed



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cape Cod, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Human Ash, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Romance, Strangers to Lovers, merman eiji, more tags to come, twin flames
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2020-07-27 19:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20050972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lipglossed/pseuds/lipglossed
Summary: Summer, 1841Mysterious things are happening in Cape Cod. Voices can be heard in the caves and figures can be spotted along the shores just before dawn. The old women at the flower shop in town whisper of creatures lost to the sea to people who know just what questions to ask...The library at Golzines Home for Wayward Orphans has never been more interesting to Aslan Callenreese.





	1. Captured

The sound of distinct conversation crept closer and closer to the room. Where there was nothing but darkness, faint moonlight filled the space when the door was opened. Two men sauntered in, each peeling off their respective coats and draping them over armchairs near the entrance. They would not be sitting, there was no need. 

One of the men, the captain of the ship, called Captain by his men, and known only as this, with no last name to follow, lit three off white candlesticks mounted on a candelabra on his bedside table. The other man, called Ino, followed him closely with his eyes, keeping his distance otherwise. Captain was not a man to be encroached upon. Not physically. Not verbally. Not even in jest. 

The two men, skin tan and tough, haggard after years spent on the high seas together, stand before the tinted glass window and repeat their routine. Drinks were poured, pipes were lit. Candlelight washed over the room and fed the corners to create tangled shadows. Faces and hands and bodies traveling across the cabin. 

The tank, atop a wooden desk across from them in the center of the room-- filled to the brim with salt water and topped with a heavy metal slat that trapped all inside--, was paid no mind. It never was. Not immediately, anyway. It was meant to be admired. It was under surveillance. 

The men smoked their pipes and drank their whiskey between every couple of words spoken between them. Even dulled by the water and glass dividing the inside and the outside worlds, parts of the conversation swam freely inside the tank. Their language was similar enough to be understood by the unacknowledged third party in the room.

The hollow creaking of old wood ebbed through the water and encasement along with their words.

A merman, weakened by days of fighting, sunk to the bottom of the tank, a sea turtle to his side and four giant starfish stuck to the glass panes. He tucked his tail close to his body and tried to think past the glass. He thought of the sky. The sky that existed before, pink and glittering like the scales on his body. 

He traced his name into the sand at the bottom of the tank. _英二_. Eiji. Named after his grandfather, lost along with three hundred of their people years and years back, just after his birth. He thought of his mother then, filled with grief by her memory. 

The men continued their conversation as he washed his name from the sand. 

“There’s a man in America, on the east coast. He collects rare creatures— giant squids, horned pandas, mammoth-bred elephants…” Ino spoke, looking at the tank. He didn’t meet his eyes and he did not linger. One quick acknowledgment of his tail. The only thing that reminded him the creature inside wasn’t human. “But he’s been known to deal with things like this too.” 

Eiji rested his head against the glass and stared at them. His heart did not shake, it did not tremble at their sight. He’d been with them for days, stuck in the same room, in the same tank, with nothing but the sound of the rolling ocean outside to remind him of what he’d left behind on a whim, by mistake.

He’d spent enough time with the men (six days to be exact) to be scared any longer. 

He heard the obscene. He cried himself in and out of misery. But on the fourth day, Eiji laid stoic in the tank. Whether a zoo, roadside attraction, or chopped into a million tiny pieces and offered as a delicacy— a side dish— he was ready to reckon with his fate. Whatever that entailed, whatever it was. 

“You’re suggesting we sell it?” 

“Exactly.”

“That’s a months journey, Ino.”

“I’m well aware, but it would be worth it.” 

They both drank, as if on cue. 

“What do you imagine he would pay for it?” 

“For a pretty thing like that?” Ino motioned to him. “Millions.”

Captain pondered this. He took a long drag from his pipe before expelling the smoke in rings, right into the face of his partner. Then they looked at him— looked him in the eyes for the first time since he was taken on board. 

“Millions, huh?” he said out loud, not to anyone in particular. 

A stream of green danced through the room, coming from the window. It stretched across the room as if reaching out to him. As if trying to hold his hand. Eiji wondered if it was the sun’s doing, that small show of affection. Of someone there. 

Peeling his eyes away from them for a moment, he focused on the window. There, he found darkness. Nighttime. 

It was the moon. She bore witness to his fate as was toiled with by hands that were not his own. She was there to spread what little beauty she could provide to him from the outside world. 

Captain laughed, coarse and drunk already. Eiji winced as he was ripped from his transfixion. “Well, I’ll be damned. Alright, Ino. Go on and let the crew know. We’ll set sail for the American eastern coast tonight.”

He would be sold. 

The words ricocheted inside his cranium. The blood in his veins ran cold, much colder than was normal for him. 

Ino finished off his drink in one gulp and excused himself. He exited the room without so much as another look at Eiji, but that much he expected. 

He suspected the crew all know better than to be polite to him. He could still hear the screams of the deckhand who had smiled at him. Short, young and bucktooth with sweetness written all over his face. He had not seen him since. 

They were left alone with each other then. He and Captain, his insolence thick in the air. It was only then that his presence was acknowledged. 

He walked towards the tank, stopping short of making direct contact with it. He leaned down and smiled, yellow and absent teeth making their misshapen debut. Eiji fought back a smile— his first in days— feeling triumph in the thrashing he had done during his capture. It resulted in at least some retribution, as minor as a couple of teeth missing from his grin were. 

Captain tapped on the glass. “Hello, beautiful.” He pulled up a chair to the tank and sat face to face with him. Same place as he always did when he retired for the night. He wouldn’t move for hours, not until he went to bed. “Now— you know what’s coming, don’t you?” Eiji turned away from him, refusing to entertain him any longer. He stared across the room again, at nothing. 

The waves outside crashed against the ship and for a second he felt himself back on that shoreline, gazing up at a world he never dared to reach for. 

Metals hit the floor and shook the room. His heart raced and panic set into his body-- ready to swim. But where? 

He looked down to find the heavy sheet that had laid atop the tank on the ground. 

A hand calloused hand broke through the water and wrapped itself around his neck, fingers tight and rough, just centimeters from the gills behind his ears. His entire body tensed. Eiji looked up, on instinct. Even through the ripples, he could see the deadly grin on Captain's lips. 

“Look at me when I speak to you.” Captain lifted him up, head out of the water, just by the grip of his neck. Eiji clawed at his arm with what little strength he had left. It wasn’t enough. Stars began to swirl around him, the world faded into black. Inches from his face, Captain whispered, “You’re going to make me a very rich man.”

—

Cracks of thunder ran through every inch of the ship. No floorboard was left untouched by its vibrations. 

Weeks of peaceful sailing had culminated into a storm to grace the end of their journey. The men just beyond the room that held Eiji scurried from place to place, tying things up and bracing themselves for the worst as the planks of wood that kept them afloat rocked from side to side. 

Even Eiji, having lived his entire life in the ocean, had never felt a storm as strong as the one they found themselves in. It seemed beyond nature-- it was angry. It was out for blood, that much he recognized. Not that anyone would know, or care enough to ask. He was a prisoner after all— a pet they were delivering. Nothing more and nothing less. 

Maps, lamps, quills, and pictures toppled from their respective surfaces. They shattered on the floor as if on command, one after the other. They hid beneath furniture and rolled out of sight. Chairs scraped across the floor, teacups and books rattled in their shelves, and the bed— which Captain had placed before Eiji and across from the window just two nights before— slid forward and backward, gliding across the room, as the ocean raged on outside. A symphony of mess. 

He steadied himself inside the tank, wishing for the millionth time that he had more room as the sea turtle scurried around in circles, panicked by the storm like the rest of them. Eiji would have helped it if he had been in the position to. He would have cooed words of reassurance and pet its shell, but there was too much fear inside himself to do anything like that. All he could do was sit tight, curled up, with his arms wrapped around his tail. He closed his eyes, hoping that if he closed them tight enough it would all stop. 

But the storm had no intention of stopping for his sake or that of anyone else. She ruled over them like a puppet master, pulling at their strings with the ocean waves for hands. 

Another round of waves hit the ship, sending the bed rushing into the base of the tank. With force unlike any he had felt before, the tank slammed against the wall of the cabin. Eiji opened his eyes and pieced the scene together. The steel lid moved slightly to the right, enough for him to slip his hand through. He settled at the bottom of the tank, back on the floor, and pushed up with his tail. It scraped against the glass but barely moved from its place. He tried again, and again, and again, crying in agony as his fins bent under the pressure. He tried and tried until he bled and then he lets himself wallow in self-pity as the sea turtle settles itself on his stomach.

It chewed on his hair, still anxious from all the rocking. The bed rolled away from them, far back towards the door. Thunder cracked outside, a whip in the sky rolling on down from the heavens. He looked up at the steel slat and laughed.

What would he have done anyway? He barely had any strength. There was no way he could have broken the window open. Eiji held on tight to the turtle. The world was quiet. And then it broke.

The bed hit the tank once more and sent the metal slat through the window. A mess of noise erupted through the room and broke through the thunder. 

Boots could be heard running towards him, pushing up against a door covered by bookshelves and chests heavy with treasures stolen abroad. 

It was time.

Eiji poked his head out of the water and hoisted himself up, sitting on the ledge of the tank as the men worked on pushing the door in. Eiji raised himself and faced forward towards the storm. He peeked out, headfirst. The wind strikes him, wild and violent. 

_Free_. 

He picked up the sea turtle and tossed it outside. The starfish followed. The door burst open with a boom, as bodies spilled into the room like water out of a tank. 

He jumped into the seething waters, hundreds of miles from those which he called home. 

—-

_The sky was pink and peppered with clouds, thick and lush. _

_The wind, cold against his wet skin, had tickled along with the waves as they pulled and pushed against him. There had been birds up above him, feathers white and voices loud. He could see land far off in the distance, trees as tall as whales and humans as small as krill running along on the shores. It was everything he’d dreamed it would be. It was magic. _

_The world was so warm. So kind to let him bask in gifts he’d never before seen. _

_All his life, his father had told him the surface world was a danger to them. There were people— catchers— who hunted them, who lurked out at sea. More than half of their kind had been taken and lost forever, their fates unknown to those they had left behind. _

_Still, all his life, Eiji yearned to taste the fresh ocean air. _

_His mother told him stories of what it had been like in her youth, before they were forced into reclusion at the bottom of the ocean, in caves. _

_She told him of the sun and the sand and the rocks she often coasted on during lazy afternoons, when the sun beamed bright and the waves shone beneath it. His mouth water with tales of all the different fruits she enjoyed. _ Mangos. Guavas. Strawberries. Papayas._ He grew up dreaming of someday sinking his teeth into even just one. _

_And it was all he could dream of that day, staring out towards the island before him. He had laid on his back and closed his eyes, drifting lazily, enjoying the breeze. Laughter from the coast and the cries of the birds above him drifted all around him. A new world opened itself to him. New sensations made the hairs on his arms rise with joy and excitement, almost as if applauding him. It had been a courageous act, going to the surface. _

_But he made it. He was so close. _

_How quickly good things fell apart and slipped through his fingers like grains of sand._

—

The water was cold… violent. It hit him before he could even be submerged, as if anxious to swallow him whole. There was thrashing, there was pain. There was nothing at all as he was swept away by the currents, and then… there was heat. And sand. 

Or, at least, something like sand. It wasn’t soft, or smooth. No, it was hot and more stone than anything else, really. Pebbles. It hurt his back. 

His back… his arms… his tail! 

Begrudgingly, Eiji sat up, eyes still closed, and tried to move his lower half, still halfway in the water. Twinges of pain ran up and down his body, like a million tiny jellyfish stings. He bit his tongue to stifle a scream. 

He opened his eyes. 

A three-inch rip in his tail bled out into the ocean. His scales, still pink and blue, iridescent under the sun, stare back at him. He pressed his lips together and looked to the clouds and sun, blazing in the sky. There was no trace of the storm anywhere. Just him, no ship or catchers to be seen. 

The pebbles beneath his body still bothered him and he’d torn something that would surely take weeks to heal, but he was alive. He was safe. 

Eiji laughed to himself, quietly at first. Just a sparkle of a giggle as he looked out to the ocean from where he sat on the shore. It quickly grew into something like screaming as he turned his head to look at his surroundings, so happy and excited to have made it out alive. To still be his own being. 

The beach was exposed for the most part, with the exception of sand dunes here and there. Tall grasses grew sporadically, and a hill overlooked it all with a fence of trees separating the forest from the shore. The breeze was calm, a gentle kiss from the world. Eiji wrapped his arms around himself as he finished his scan of the area, not yet believing his luck.

“Ash! Don’t go too far ahead!” 

The booming of a voice, speaking a language he didn’t understand, shook him from his daydream. Eiji looked around frantically, sand dune to sand dune before his eyes fell on worn shoes just yards away from him. They were attached to long and lanky limbs, awkwardly running along down to the beach and stopping in their tracks. 

Piercing eyes, as green as seaweed in sunlight, as jade as twilight beneath the waves, were glued to his body. 

And Eiji was stuck, he couldn’t move.


	2. the shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He held his knees to his chest and looked to the window next to his armoire, watching the clouds move through the pink-tinted sky. The tree outside of his room danced with the wind and the birds chirping in the silence that surrounded the estate. Soon the fireflies would light the grounds._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is becoming one of my favorite things to work on merman eiji makes me so happy

He felt a flicker of something new. Chimes sounded far off in the distance-- maybe it was seagulls, but he wouldn’t have been able to tell. His mind was preoccupied with the ethereal being that rested on the shore before him. It was what he imagined trekking through the amazon to be like. That’s what it was like to look at him fully. 

“Aslan!” Blanca called from behind him.

Aslan Jade Callenreese, his worn hardcover copy of Faust tucked beneath his armpit, tore his eyes away from the creature before him. There was a shallow beating in his body, so faint and yet so strong that began in his chest and traveled to his eardrums. It stayed there as he looked back up to where Yut Lung and Blanca were approaching with every second that passed. 

He looked towards the creature, his horror-stricken face and tousled long black hair, brown eyes wide with fear. He knew Blanca, he knew Yut Lung, and he knew Dino and what he would do if they saw what Ash had found. 

He gulped, dry and hard as the pictures began forming in his head. There was no time to waste.

Ash tried to shoo him away, motioning with his hands for him to return to the water. The creature, almost more confused than scared by him, could only point to his tail, shaking his head to let him know it wouldn’t be possible for him to make his escape. 

Ash anxiously bounced from foot to foot, desperately trying to think of what to do. He took a tentative step towards him and put his hands up to show he meant no harm upon seeing how skeptic the creature was of his intentions. 

His foot didn’t even hit the ground to take its first step before the creature shut its eyes, face crinkled and pinched as if waiting to be struck. Ash stopped in his steps. 

The poor thing was terrified. 

“I won’t hurt you,” he whispered. “You’re alright.” 

He opened his eyes and looked at him. His face softened. Ash put his finger up and pointed to the hill. Slowly, he began to back away, step by step until he had to turn his back on him. He broke into a sprint back to where he’d come from, passing the reeds, grass, and sand until he reached the wooden stairs and landing. 

His face was bright red, he could feel it deep in his skin. It was more than the summer sun beating down on him, it was more than running. He’d laid his eyes on something powerful enough to rival all of the marvels of the world. A treasure. A gift.

A blessing. 

He crashed into Blanca as he turned into the dirt road he and Yut Lung were walking down. They hadn’t bothered to catch up with him, still a ways away from the beach, but too close for comfort. 

“Aslan? Is there a problem?” 

“We should study in the forest today-- or the gazebo,” Ash said making a face. 

“Why the change of heart? You chose to come down here today.” Blanca fixed his satchel of books and studied him. “You were excited.” 

“Yes, but there are fish,” Ash said. Yut Lung made a face. “_Dead_ fish all over the sand. Probably from last nights storm. It smells putrid down there.” 

Blanca opened his mouth to protest, squinting his eyes in the same way he always did when he knew Ash had done something he shouldn’t have, whether that was sneaking out into town with Shorter or stealing from Dino even though he could ask for just about anything from him and receive it. 

But Yut Lung cut him short, exclaiming he’d rather walk back home than sit on some disgusting beach and read all afternoon. He shuddered as if he could smell the fictional fish already and turned around, bound for the estate. Blanca could only sigh and turn to walk with him as well, calling Ash to follow with the slight of his index finger. 

The poplar trees lined their way back to the main house, all four hundred yards it took to get there. Not very far by most standards, but enough for Yut Lung to curse each pebble he tripped over as he made his way ten feet in front of them. 

“Dead fish?” Blanca asked him once they were near the house. “I’ve never heard of a storm killing so many.” 

“Last nights storm was different, everyone in town was talking about it. Even you and Dino--”

“_Monsieur_, Aslan. Address him as he must be addressed. And-- what exactly were you doing in town again? We’ve been over this--” 

“_ To be brought up as a proper gentleman, one must separate himself from_\--” Ash started. 

“No, Aslan,” Blanca said, He stopped to look him in the eye. As much as Ash had grown since Blanca and he met, Blanca still towered over him. Not by much, but enough to claim his authority. He whispered, “As much as he may favor you if the Monsieur were to find out what you get up to in town, there’d be no forgiving you. I hesitate to even think of what he’d do.” Ash looked down to his feet, shoes still filthy with sand and ankles scuffed by nature. Free as he felt running off every now and then, he knew who ruled him. His chest caught fire. 

Blanca thought he had to remind him. 

Blanca sighed as he began to walk again, leaving Ash behind. He called back to him. “I know there’s no stopping you, but for all of our sakes, please be careful.” 

\---

They studied _Faust_ in the gazebo near the greenhouse with a spread of apricot jam, tea, and bread before them. Ash kept his face stoic through the lesson, careful not to give any signs of what he was hiding— or rather, who. 

After their English lesson, Yut Lung and Ash were allowed two hours of free time to do what they wished around the estate. Most days, Yut Lung retired to his own greenhouse out near the edge of the forest, the rose gardens behind the kitchen, or his room on the third floor of the mansion, unless he was feeling rather caged-- a rarity for him, but not an impossibility. He came from a long line of money. He grew up having learned the things that were being stuffed down Ash’s throat. But if he _was_ feeling caged and, as it was often accompanied by it, irritable, he would follow Ash around until their last lesson in the afternoon, bickering with him to try and get a reaction. To Yut Lung, the world worked like this. If he was miserable, it was only fair all else were too, and Ash was no exception.

When this happened, Ash would plant himself in one of the foyers and read until Blanca called them again for their last lesson. Over the two years they’d spent together at the Home, he’d become exceptionally good at blocking him out. If he ignored him enough, Yut Lung would eventually quiet down and read something as well. 

But the times he was left alone, Ash often snuck away into the forest with a sketchbook under his arms and charcoal pencils in his pockets. Past the rocks, moss, and trees, was a pond full of and surrounded by life. Minnows swam in its waters, frogs rested on its lily pads. Willow and Oak trees were havens for garden snakes and birds of all types. It branched off from a river that fed into the ocean. If he was lucky, every couple of weeks he was witness to the sun showering the area with rays so soft and warm Ash found it hard not to stay forever. 

He’d found the pond during his first attempt at escaping the Home and had been running to it ever since. It fed him wild berries and cradled him when he couldn’t sleep. Most importantly, it was untouched by the outside world. No one but him. And that mattered, especially when everything else in his life was.

“Ash,” Yut Lung stood at his room door, black hair slicked into a low ponytail and face as constipated as ever. He held a copy of the Two Treatises of Government in his hands. Ash cocked an eyebrow at him from his bed. “Blanca sent me. It’s time for our history lesson.” 

He hadn’t had the luxury of running off into the forest. 

“Already? It’s barely been an hour,” he said. Yut Lung shrugged. 

“He said he had business to attend to with the Monsieur this afternoon.” 

“I can’t believe you really call him that,” Ash grumbled. 

“I can’t believe he’s got the likes of you living under his roof.” 

He threw a pillow at him, then, with a sigh, slipped on his shoes and followed Yut Lung down to the Library with his own copy of the book. Blanca would surely be waiting for them with more than Ash cared to learn that day— his mind already busy trying to find a way from the beach to the pond through the most discreet path possible. 

—

Their day ended at 4 pm, right as the grandfather clock struck the time. Yut Lung scurried off as soon as they were dismissed but Ash stayed back, watching as Blanca began to clean up his supplies: chalk, books, pens, and paper. He moved silently, aware of Ash still present in the room. 

“Can I help you with something, Aslan?” he asked as he put away the book on 16th-century philosophers. It was as thick as it was boring. Ash couldn’t look at it without wanting to sleep. 

“I had a question, actually. About mythology.” 

“Mythology?” Blanca finished what he was doing and turned to look at him. “We covered that two months ago.”

“Yes, but we only covered _greek_ mythology. I’m sure there’s more out there.” 

Blanca stroked his chin, bare of his winter beard. “Hm, well, yes. There are all kinds of--”

“So where are they?” Ash asked, feeling impatient. He looked around the wall to wall book covered library. There must have been thousands and thousands of books surrounding them, all sadly unread. Ash had barely made a dent since he had arrived. 

“Where are what?” Blanca asked. 

“The books.” 

“Oh! Well, we keep those up there,” Blanca said. He pointed across the room toward the wall above the entrance. “Everything from Norse to Chinese mythology. I don’t think they’ve been used for a long time, but I remember seeing them very clearly when I first took inventory of this place. Why the interest?”

“Well, we’ll be going on break soon, I thought I might read them.” He lifted himself from the chair and walked towards one of the shelves. _The Atlas’_. He took the biggest in the bunch and placed it under his arm, then looked at Blanca. “Well, thank you. Goodbye.” 

“Wait-- why the atlas?” 

“You told me to brush up on my geography.”

“That was ages ago, Aslan. Why now?” 

“I have time _now_.” He didn’t seem satisfied with his answer, but just as he was about to respond, one of the butlers announce that Blanca’s presence was needed in 'the Monsieur's' office. He flared his nostrils and left him alone in the library, silence filling the room. 

He carried the book back to his room and stuffed it in a leather satchel Dino had gifted him for his birthday the year past. He’d had no use for it on account he attended school on the estate grounds and the boys in town would grow suspicious of him, as Ash claimed to be homeless. Not only that, but he hated the thing and hated its gifter. 

Ash took bandages, ointment, and medicine from the bathroom in his room and placed them inside, along with a map of the cape, his sketchbook, and pencils and went on his merry way, worn linen pants and shoes ready to sneak out of sight and looking forward to the beach. 

\--- 

The sun was still high in the sky when he set foot on the beach again. It was as it had been when he left hours ago. He scanned the area for him, finding no visible trace. 

Ash took off his shoes and moved further in towards where he had first seen him. There was nothing. No blood, no handprints, no merman. He took a seat on the sand and let the water wash over his feet. Maybe he’d imagined it all. He had been feeling odd in the morning, feverish almost. Yes, that was it. He’d imagined him, a symptom of heat stroke or some other sickness. But he’d seemed so real, almost like he could reach out and run his fingers through his hair or trace each curve of his tail, or… 

The ocean waves broke their rhythm. Ash took to his feet and examined the shore left to right, stone to stone, boulder to--

Boulder. 

Fingers held on tight against the pushing and pulling of the current. The same brown eyes he’d seen earlier were calling out for help as he struggled to keep himself near the shore. Ash took off his shirt and satchel, throwing them on the beach without a second thought. He hadn’t swum in years, but years and years lived in the ocean were ingrained in him. His body would remember. 

He dove in, moving as fast as his body would allow him towards his side, the saltwater taste of the ocean like a kiss on his lips. 

Ash wrapped his arms around his waist carefully, to make sure he wasn’t hurting him, unsure of what was alright for him to touch. They made their way back to shore in silence. The creature stiffened in his arms, almost as in shock as Ash was. Who’d have thought they’d be there in that position just hours after first seeing each other. 

They rested on the shore, flat on their backs as they looked up at the sky, sun far from sinking into the horizon. They didn’t look at each other or even speak for some time, still trying to process the situation from both sides. Ash wanted to look though, measure all of him and ask how come his scales were as brilliant as diamonds. Or how he managed to look almost godly even after being washed up onshore. 

Ash was the first to move. He sat up and gazed down at the creature, his face pink and pained, teetering on the edge of nothingness. A kind of emptiness Ash tried to occupy far too often. 

He pressed his lips together and tapped his shoulder. He looked at him, eyes as big as saucers. 

“It’s nice to meet you, my name is Ash.” He thought maybe Blanca’s manner lesson would finally come in handy. He reached out to shake his hand.

Bewilderment, confusion, understanding, then silence all in under three seconds washed over the creatures face. He sighed and spoke in a language Ash had never heard before. Ash lowered his hand and head, somewhat embarrassed for having assumed he spoke English. He didn’t sulk long. 

He pointed to himself and slowly drew out his own name. “I… am… Ash.” He stressed each word. “Ash.” 

“A—ash—oo.” The creature's eyes filled with joy. He sat up as well and smiled, pointing to Ash with a bouncing hand. “Ash-u! Ash-u!”

“Y-Yes, that’s close enough,” Ash laughed as the creature clapped his hands together. “You?” He pointed to him. 

“You?” He repeated the word then shook his head. “Eiji,” he said pointing to himself. 

“E...Eiji?” Ash said. He nodded. “Interesting name. It’s nice to meet you. Pointless saying that but… well…” Eiji looked at him, confused once more. Ash looked down at his tail and the gash near the end and got up to fetch his bag. “Why don’t we patch you up? That cut looks painful.” He took out the ointment and offered it to Eiji who stared at it in his hands, as if unsure what to do. Ash took it again. He opened it and pointed to the cream then the wound on his tail. 

“It helps,” he said. 

“Helps…” Eiji repeated. Ash wasn’t sure he understood. “食べ物ですか?” 

“I have no idea what it is you’ve just said. Here,” Ash said. He squeezed out a sizable amount and moved his hands to his tail, only to have it swatted away. Eiji spoke quickly and angrily, scooting away from Ash as he did so. “Alright! My apologies!” He rubbed his hand and pouted, an old childhood habit of his.

He placed the ointment back in his satchel and reached instead for the atlas. He was careful not to get it wet, placing his shirt beneath it. He scoots in closer to Eiji and pointed to the first world map he came across. Eiji scanned the pages. “We… are… here,” Ash pointed to the east coastline then to the both of them. “Eiji?” 

Eiji glanced down again, face contorted into a million questions. Then his finger moves across the pages, tracing an invisible route. He moved from America to East Asia and landed in—

“The Sea of Japan?” 

Eiji shrugged before he began to gather strands of seaweed. He tied them together and held each piece tightly in his palms. “What are you doing so far from home?” 

Ash watched him as he wrapped the seaweed around the wound, nice and snug. It was his own way of healing himself, something removed from the human methods Ash could provide him. He didn’t know why, but it made him smile. Patching himself up, he looked like he belonged there on that beach. He didn’t look as scared. 

He looked at the sun as it began its journey downward. It wouldn’t be more than an hour before sunset. He would have to go back before then. 

Ash picked the book back up, replacing it with his map. He studied it closely, his own contributions more than the original. There was a cove just two-quarters of a mile away from where they were. He could house him there until he saw Shorter again or found a route to take him to the pond, no doubt his safest bet on protecting him from Dino. 

“Eiji,” he said. Eiji looked at him, still smug from the work he did on his tail. Ash showed him the cove on the map and pointed in its direction, eager to take him there. Eiji hesitated, pointing at his tail then shaking his head. Ash jumped up to his feet and walked into the water. He kneeled down in front of him, waist-deep in the ocean and extended a hand. He smiled, soft around the corners and skin crinkled around his eyes, the way his mother would smile at him when he was just a child. When she was still around and the only thing he feared were the big waves Griffin swam in. 

Eiji moved slowly, taking his hand and moving step by step. The ocean moved with him and the breeze pushed him along into Ash’s arms. The world goes gentle as if autonomous and understanding of the transference of trust taking place. As they paddled up the shore to the cove, Ash tried not to get lost in Eiji’s skin as it sparkled along with the waves beneath the sun. He tried not to think too much about the gills behind his ears, the pink tint to his skin or the way he smelled like something he’d known all his life. Such a strange body already so familiar. 

\--- 

The sun was all but set when he arrives at the Home. The day staff made their way out as he ran past them, clothes soaked and hair astray, dry and stale from the seawater. Some said hello and others said goodbye and some said nothing at all. They usually barely paid him any mind, rolling their eyes as he went, already used to his antics. 

Ash did not reply, mind still in that cove and heart beating hard in his chest. 

He drew him a sundial on the sand of the cove and placed a pebble on midday mark before he left. It was his own way of promising to return, a message Eiji understood. Or at least he seemed to understand. Their language barrier would be an issue, one they would have to work around. Ash left him with three apples and a promise before diving back into the water and making his way back. 

He ran past the foyer, up the stairs, and past Dino’s office to his room at the end of the hall without stopping, sure that if any of the house staff saw him, they would ask why he was in such a disheveled state. But the halls were bare and everyone seemed to have retreated to their respective spaces. The cooks in the kitchen, maids and butlers in their quarters, and Yut Lung in his room. All of them like dolls, waiting to be used. 

There was a feeling growing in his chest-- a type of excitement that made his chest fill with air and cheeks warm with excitement. 

Ash hid his bag beneath his bed and plopped down on the floor. He held his knees to his chest and looked to the window next to his armoire, watching the clouds move through the pink-tinted sky. The tree outside of his room danced with the wind and the birds chirping in the silence that surrounded the estate. Soon the fireflies would light the grounds.

“Aslan.” 

Ash took a breath, sharp and defended. Dino walked into the room, cane tapping loudly against the wooden floors. A disturbance to say the least. He let his knees go and rose to his feet, eyes vacant. 

“Where have you been all day?” Dino said. “We missed you at breakfast this morning. Lunch as well.” 

Ash straightened his back, the way he was taught by the very person standing in front of him. “I slept in this morning and had lunch in my room.” 

Dino looked him over. “You’ve been swimming?” 

“I fell in.” 

“Hm.” The silence returned, no longer the peaceful one from just moments before. “Well, another letter’s arrived for you.” He pulled it from the inside of his jacket, offering it to him. “Perhaps you would like to read it this time?”

“No,” Ash deadpanned. “I’m alright.”

He reached to touch him, but Ash pulled away. “I’ll see you at dinner, then. Be sure to wash up. You know I hate to see you like this.” 

Ash wanted to lash out, to kick and punch him and make him choke on each coarse and backhanded word. But he did nothing. He kept a stiff lip until Dino left the room. 

Until he was left to his own devices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is going to be starting soon, but I'll try my best to keep updates as frequently as possible. 
> 
> Let me know what you think :)! 
> 
> PS: thank you to everyone who left a comment-- I really appreciate them!


	3. the pond

Eiji slept until he could sleep no more. He dreamt of his mother, his father, his sister, his home, and the awkward human boy who took him far from danger and deep into a cove, away from everything. He rose with the sun, casting itself over the horizon, both their bodies half-submerged in ocean water. He watched the hastily drawn and fading sundial. 

Days would come and days would go. Ash spent all the time he could with him, a few hours in the morning, a few hours in the evening. They would read (well, Ash would read. Eiji would just listen to his voice and pay attention when Ash tried to explain something), and eat together. Talking was a work in progress for them, but they found ways to communicate. Ash brought plenty of books with illustrations and they would take turns pointing to things and saying the names for them in their languages. They had the basics down-- colors, some numbers, emotions. 

But Eiji learned about new things with him too. Like animals-- birds were his favorite so far. All his life he thought seagulls were the only type to exist, but upon spotting a blue-tailed bee-eater in a book Ash had brought with him, a world opened for Eiji. Ash saw his excitement and brought an ornithology book with him with every discovered species in the last twenty years. He had even left it with him overnight, with an oil lamp and three oranges. 

Fruits and vegetables were an experience unlike any other. Berries, bananas… such sweet summer fruits to cool them as they sat beneath the sun.

Eiji hadn’t seen Ash swim after that first day. He would come in from above or from behind. He moved quietly like it was life or death. Like he had a secret he was keeping. Not that it was any of his business, but watching Ash filled him with curiosity. Every step, every dart of the eyes. Even the way his ears perked up at the slightest sound. He was anxious, always on edge. Eiji never knew why. They were hidden, and the only thing that he himself could ever really hear were the seagulls and waves. 

Ash loved to watch the water sweep over their small shore, eyes shining like algae in the morning sun. It was one of the few times Eiji saw him calm. 

Four days after meeting each other, Ash taught him the word “move,” hunched over a map of the east coast and a wicker basket of blueberries. He traced from their location to an estuary, up the coast, and followed it until the river line disappeared into a forest. He had written over it-- a word Eiji didn’t know. 

On his sixth day there, he awoke to Ash placing strawberries on plates in front of him. Eiji moved from the water onto the sand and picked one up, putting into his mouth before he could wave hello. His hair was stiff and he was pretty sure a shell was stuck to his bottom, but he didn’t care. Hair could be washed. Shells could be removed. But the strawberries were very impatient. 

“Hungry?” Ash asked. Another word Eiji had come to understand. 

“Hungry,” he replied in his own language, having taught Ash the word as well. He nodded and placed more in front of him. 

Ash spoke again, at him, but not really. They both didn’t understand enough to do that yet. Eiji just smiled at him and Ash smiled back. He popped a strawberry into his own mouth and laid back into the sand, blond hair blending into the grains. He closed his eyes and smirked, taking in a deep breath. He looked past him at his satchel. No books. No other food. 

Today was the day. 

Ash would help him through the estuary and the stream, up into an opening and carry him into a pond. “Pond” was another word they had translated after many failed attempts at drawing them in the sand. It was a smaller ocean, with no fish-- that much Eiji knew. 

He had shown him more detailed drawings of the pond-- drawings which Eiji guessed he had done himself. They were beautiful in the kind of way that Ash was himself-- kind of careless, but genuine. Not that he would ever tell him that. Not that he even could. 

He looked him over and lingered on the tip of his nose. His body began to burn.

“Today,” Ash said, eyes still closed. “Pond. Okay?” 

“Yes,” Eiji responded. “N… n-now?” 

Ash opened his eyes and sat up, smiling from ear to ear. He shook his head yes. “Now.” 

He took off his shirt and pants and slipped into another piece of clothing, something like what he wore on his legs but not quite as long. Eiji moved back into the water and waited for him to put his socks and shoes aside as he had done in the past. 

Once they were neatly put aside, he moved into the water until he was floating beside him. He was careful, curling his arm around Eiji’s waist. There wasn’t much of a reason to hold on to him yet-- not for some yards out, but Eiji said nothing. He held it in like Ash held his breath underwater. 

They waded out from inside the half-cave Eiji had been living in and into the sea. Keeping close to the shore, Ash and Eiji swam toward an opening up ahead-- the estuary. They pushed against the current as it trickled into the ocean. Eiji, in between wincing from the pain in his tail, tried to take everything around him in. The salt marsh plants and mangrove trees shone beneath the high noon sun. Birds and small furry animals scurried across the landscape. And the noises. 

It was a symphony. Beautiful, wonderful music. Singing just to him. 

His grip around Ash’s waist softened. He was no longer holding on for his life, but simply to hold and be held. His hair swam behind them, somehow lazy on top of the rushing stream of water. The water even felt different-- slightly cooler, like when the wind brushed his wet skin early in the morning. 

He watched the freckles on Ash’s shoulders. They ran all the way across and down his back, with a sprinkling across his nose and cheeks. If he could have, he would have reached out to graze his skin. That is if Ash would have let him. He was particular about touching. Eiji thought it must have been a human thing. 

They made it to the opening. Ash lifted Eiji onto the ground, making sure to place him there as gently as he could. Eiji pat the ground, dirt soft to the touch, as Ash himself got out of the water. His scales looked muted next to the rich brown earth. Ash gathered him up in his arms, directing Eiji to hold on as they started across the tall grasses. 

He fussed the entire way there. The air was far too hot and his skin was dry, much too dry. It hurt to move. Clouds covered the sky. Ash kept saying something, but it was just slurred noises to Eiji. 

His breathing became haggard. The gills behind his ears burned. It wasn’t until he hit the water that he realized Ash had been running all along. 

He took a deep breath in and lost himself beneath the surface, sinking like a stone. He looked up to surface, plants, and rays of sun coming into view. A figure broke through and swam to him, the bubbles behind him like wings. 

Ash took him by the arms and dragged him back up to the surface. He brushed the hair out of Eiji’s face and held him close to keep him from going under. Even in his state, Eiji smiled. Ash was so silly. He forgot Eiji could breathe underwater and in the “pond” he could not go out to sea. 

“Okay?” he asked Eiji as he brushed a strand of black hair behind his ear. A lily pad had gotten entangled in it, the flower barely hanging on as it slid down the side of his head. Ash took it in his hands and threw it aside. 

“Mhm,” Eiji said. “Okay.” 

“Okay,” Ash said. He helped him move toward the edge. “Safe.” He pointed to the pond. “Here.” 

He knew what “safe” meant, at least he thought he did, but by the look on Ash’s face, he was still worried about something. He moved back to look at him, tilting his head. 

“Okay?” He pointed at him. Ash pursed his lips and nodded. 

“I’m okay,” he said. The birds continued to sing above them. “Tail?” 

Eiji shrugged and swished it around slowly. The pain ran through only slightly less than it had days ago. Progress. 

His lungs were filled with scents he’d never known. Earth-- it had to be Earth. It was just as his mother had described. The daydreams, those that filled his mind all those years, came to life. He watched the various flying insects, the birds nestled and cooing in their trees, and the way the light came through and struck all below it. Eiji looked all around them, at the big plants and grasses and the flowers and the rocks. 

He clung to Ash like the moss growing on the trees, but Ash pulled away. He hopped out of the pond and looked down at Eiji, face growing red. 

He pointed at himself. “Go,” he said. He motioned to the sky and then to the ground. “To-mor-row.” Eiji nodded, pretending he knew what he was saying. He nodded back at him, but only briefly before taking off running in the direction from which they came. 

Eiji waved goodbye and sunk to the bottom, past the lilies, and with the algae, into the twilight of the shadows.  
__

It was midday when Ash made it back to the estate and Dino and Blanca were gone. Max, the groundskeeper and the only adult Ash remotely trusted, told him they were away on business. “They’re getting ready to welcome another boy to the home for the summer. Might have something to do with that.” They were sitting on bales of hay in the stables, the horses neighing around them. “Poor kid.”

Ash rolled his eyes and leaned against a wooden beam. “If he can afford to be here, he’s not so poor.” 

“I guess you’re right. That Lee kid has money coming out of his ears and you…” 

“And I, what?” he challenged him. 

“Never mind what I said. Are you joining us for dinner or is Jess going to have to come to drag you to see her herself?”

“Only if you promise she won’t try to cut my hair again,” Ash said shooting him a look of distrust. “There’s still a scar from the last time.” He rubbed the back of his neck as Max through his head back laughing, smacking Ash on the back in the process. Ash couldn’t help but crack a smile. 

“How are you making it out this time then?” 

“The same way I make it out each time,” Ash said. “Through the woods. I’ll leave at 2 pm.” He jumped up to his feet. 

“Why so early?” 

“None of your business. I’ll see you at 8.” 

He left the barn without another word and marched toward the mansion, kicking rocks along the way. The sun burned his arms with an added sting from the saltwater residue on his body. His heels ached and the satchel felt heavier than ever before. 

It had been a long time since he had moved with such purpose and so rigorously. His body had spent so much time waiting for something to get him to move. The water had been waiting for him as well. And now Eiji, swimming around in a place so dear to him, was waiting for his return. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Is this how his time was spent? 

He entered the foyer and tiptoed across the threshold, out of habit. There was no one inside the house. Not that he could tell. Yut Lung spent his free days with the plants and the staff kept to the kitchen and work areas. Blanca was gone. Dino was gone. All the house could do was creak in its silence. 

Ash crept up the stairs and to the bathroom. He filled the porcelain tub with water and stripped down to nothing, pouring in soaps and oils as he went along. Steam filled the room, coating the mirrors and marble surfaces until he could barely see his own reflection. 

He slipped into the water and let himself fall apart-- muscles relaxing and breath shallow. He thought about Eiji and his hair and his scales and the little smirk that formed on his face when Ash tried to pronounce something in his language. And he thought about what he would do once his tail healed. He’d gotten so used to having a friend so near him and so unknown to others. 

Bubbles roamed free from his nose, popping at the top like fireworks. A hum escaped his chest and in antsy motion, he rose from the water and started scrubbing himself down. He had people to meet.

____

“Alright, what’s wrong?” Shorter asked him as they sat cross-legged on the edge of the dock. 

The sun had not retired when he made it into town. Other than a slight twinge of orange against the buildings and water as it lapped against the pier beams, the day had not yet given into the night.  
“I need to tell you something, but you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. Not even Nadia.” Shorter furrowed his brows. 

Shorter lived with his sister in the living quarters above their tavern. It was small, but it was cozy and felt more like a home than anything Ash had known since arriving at the Cape. Shorter had been one of the first people he’d met upon arrival, physically running into him as he tried to run from Dino.

“Why not?” 

“Because I-- Look, if we figure out a plan, we can tell her. But for now, it’s just us. Okay?” Shorter leaned back, staring at him, eyes still skeptical. 

“Alright.” 

He had dined with the Lobo’s and played with Michael. Jessica _had_ tried to cut his hair again, after all, but Ash was faster than her and had slipped past the door, rushing his goodbyes before running off to meet Shorter. 

“Do you remember that storm we had a while back? The one that sunk that docked ship?” Shorter nodded. “The morning after that storm, Blanca took us to the beach outside of the estate and… I found a mermaid-- man. A merman.”

“_What_?” Shorter asked falling into a less relaxed position. “Those things aren’t r-- Are you sure it’s a mermaid?” 

“I think so-- I’m not sure,” Ash responded. “He looks like them, like the ones in the books-- the tail and the hair, and everything. He’s pink! And Shorter, he’s got these eyes that--” Shorter cocked an eyebrow at him. Ash cleared his throat. “But, he’s hurt and he’s not from here.”

“Where is he from?” 

“The Sea of Japan.” Ash brushed the hair from his eyes. “That’s what he said at least.” 

“And he speaks _english_?” 

“No.”

“He doesn’t speak English?” Ash shook his head. “Then how do you--?”

“Because he pointed to it on a map!” 

“Ash--” 

“Look! I just need your help. Your grandmother--”

“She’s not my grandmother.”

“-- she and her sisters know about these things, right?” 

The Li sisters ran the flower shop beside the tavern, but flowers weren’t the only thing they specialized in. Herbal cures and medicinal teas, good luck charms and curses. They were old and wrinkled, like delicate pieces of parchment paper. The children in the town had stayed out of their way nonetheless. Even the adults kept themselves at a distance unless their services were needed. _Everyone_ lowered their gaze when they walked through town. The Li sisters were untouchable to everyone but Nadia and Shorter who treated them like family and delivered their meals like clockwork. 

Shorter looked hesitant. “Ash… you know they aren’t fond of--” 

“-- Me. Yes, I know. Which is why I want you to take me.” 

“Oh… no. No.”

“Shorter, please.” 

“Why don’t you ask Sing?” he exclaimed. 

“Sing is a _child_! Shorter, I just need them to tell me how to help him!”

They went quiet as the sun sank into the ocean. Seagulls sang above them as the waves crashed below. Shorter took a deep breath. “How important is this to you?” 

“He’s the only thing I’ve thought about for days.” Ash looked down at his hands. “Shorter, I’ve got him stowed away in a pond in the woods. I'm desperate.” 

“Fine! Come on!” He threw his hands up in the air and stood up. 

Purple coated the sky as the moon appeared above them, stars sprinkled throughout like freckles. Shorter motioned for Ash to follow him into the hidden alleys of the town, away from street lamps and shopfronts, where nothing but echoed screaming could be heard. The Li sisters would help him. 

They had to.


	4. the cellar

Mei Li was the eldest of the three sisters. She was a short and shriveled woman, dressed in lilac silks, with an ageless rage burning in her eyes. Her sisters, known only as Bi and Yu, followed behind her when they strolled down the street, just as refined. 

They had a distaste towards Ash through his connection to the Golzine Estate. Ash guessed there was a lineage of bad blood between them, something that ran deep and long. They looked at him differently than they looked at other people-- something he could only recognize as contempt. Regardless of what Ash said, or how much Shorter trusted him, all the Li’s saw was the invisible hand of Dino Golzine resting on Ash’s shoulder. He respected that and stayed out of their way. 

But now he needed them. 

The back door of the shop groaned as they opened it, hands flat against the wood. Inside, it was dark and smelled of earth, sweet soil and dried leaves mixing with the salty air of the ocean. 

A voice called out to them from beyond. 

Shorter cursed under his breath and responded. Ash could see smoke swirling ahead of them. 

“They want me to wait outside,” Shorter told him. 

“What?” Ash asked. 

“I don’t know--” 

The voice called out again. Shorter closed his mouth. 

“They want you to take your shoes off,” he told Ash. He leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Get the information you need and nothing else. Do you understand?” 

Ash nodded, removing his shoes as Shorter took him by the shoulders. 

“They’re good people Ash, but the forces they work through don’t care for good or bad.” 

“Shorter!” Three voices screamed from inside the room. He let go of Ash and made his way out, closing the door behind him with a bang. The air inside was still. He walked forward. 

The room was stuffy, dark, and carpeted. The soft glow of an oil lamp gave light to the vague silhouette of the room and the people inside. Three sisters sat in armchairs, thick blankets on their laps. He couldn’t see their faces. 

“Why have you come?” they spoke. 

“I need information.” 

They laughed among themselves, hollow inside the room. “Silly child,” they said. “Silly, silly child. 

Mei Li called for him to stand before her in the center of the room. Ash continued forward, carpet soft and plush beneath his feet. 

“How is your friend?” Mei Li asked him, wrinkled finger peaking through the darkness to point at him.” Ash almost staggered backward. “The creature, how is he? Enjoying himself, I hope.” 

“You know?” he asked her, heart beating louder and louder with each second he spent in front of them. 

“Of course,” she said. “We felt his presence the moment he arrived. Such a beautiful, tender aura…” They agreed among themselves, then turned back to him. “Creatures who belong to the water have an allure to them, no?” Ash fell silent. “Their voices, their eyes, skin, hair. Almost like angels. You know this too, how it is to be around him.” His throat begins to burn. “One would want to keep him close… to steal him away.” Her sisters hummed in agreement.

“That isn’t what I’m doing. I’m protecting him--”

“As beautiful as they are, they’re nomadic and curious creatures. They have an innate desire to explore, to move and to see what exists beyond their worlds. They exist in the fringes of the human world, hidden, but this desire remains.” The oil lamp dimmed. “It is no different in your friend.”

“Now be honest with us, child. What is it you need?” 

“I-- I need help,” he said. 

“We all need help, Aslan,” Yu Li spoke up from beside Mei Li. “What have _you_ come for?” 

“I-information.” He gulped and stood straight, shoulders back to project something like confidence. “On him-- what is he?” 

“You know what he is, Aslan,” said Mei. “Do you know _who_ he is? Who _you_ are?” 

Ash shook his head, feeling hazy under the clouds of smoke. “I don’t know-- I just need to help him. I need to know how he got here and how to get him back!” He coughed through the smoke as it poured from their lips like water. “Please--” 

“The answer is closer than you believe it to be. Look out to the sea, watch the streets and be wary of visitors. There are strangers in town.” One last puff of smoke as a single tear ran down his face. His lungs felt they would collapse, the air thick in his passages. “As for your friend… we do not tempt fate. We respect her authority. But if you want to help him, go to him.” She came into view for the first time, light falling on wrinkled skin like waves on the shore under the moonlight. She looked at him, worry in her eyes. Then, a seething whisper-- 

“Go to him _now_.” 

His legs couldn’t move fast enough. Shorter screamed his name as he dashed through the streets, emerging from the alleys into the square, hair whipping around him and breathing haggard without a care for anything-- not his legs, not his lungs. They meant nothing until he reached him. 

\--- 

_Past the big elm tree until you reach the trenches. Turn left. Straight forward for approximately one mile. Head northeast at the boulder and down the dried stream heading east. Turn right. Past the clearing, there is the pond._

Yut Lung repeated the directions to himself, though they had been memorized two years before when he had first followed Aslan there. He’d watched him draw and eat until it was time for him to return. With knobby knees and only 13 at the time, Yut Lung had been curious about what Aslan got up to so deep in the woods, with no one and nothing around. It turned out, he just liked the silence. 

He didn’t follow him again, more involved in his own free time, growing and cultivating plants in his greenhouse and fixing salves from those plants. But after two years of seeing his own dulled spirit in Aslan’s eyes, the shift to life and excitement and maybe even something like _hope_ (of all things) piqued his curiosity once more. He smelled the seawater on him and watched the extra strawberries and books and scribbled words in his satchel. The pink in his cheeks. 

These things led him into the woods, once both Aslan and the Monsieur were gone. Equipped with nothing but a knife and lantern

\---

Concrete and dirt turned into grass and marsh. Trees wrapped their branches around each other and caged him in, pointing with their arms towards where he needed to be. Deep inside, where the birds cried like sirens and grass grew where it pleased. The pond was miles away and yet he kept at the same pace, the same careworn and reckless movement of limbs because he could feel him-- he could feel him writhing in the same way he had earlier that day. 

A quarter of a mile away, the feeling stops. No more burning. No more movement. Nothing. Ash’s lungs give out and he falls, down to his knees with a thud into the grass. The dull image of a corpse floats into his mind. 

He rose with misty eyes, arms clasped around his waist, trying to ease the pain. He limped forward, hesitant step after hesitant step as he inched closer to the clearing. 

A low yellow glow and two voices, haphazardly speaking with one another. He recognized them both. The image of the corpse left him, but a snake took its place. 

Yut Lung kneeled before the pond, Eiji’s hair in between his fingers being braided into a crown on his head. Ash couldn’t see his face, but he could feel him smiling. He was okay. 

“Yut Lung,” Ash spoke up from behind him. They both jumped, before recognizing him. Eiji waved hello and Yut Lung frowned. He moved towards them, wiping the sweat from his face and on his shirt. 

“Oh G--Look who finally decided to show up,” he said standing from his place on the ground. “We were wondering when you’d come back.” He looked back down at Eiji and said something in a language that sounded vaguely similar to what Eiji spoke. Ash furrowed his brows as they smiled at each other. Yut Lung turned back to him. “Pretty boy here told me you were coming. I thought he was crazy.” 

Ash walked to the edge of the pond and took Eiji’s hand into his own, kneeling in the grass, suddenly aware of how shaken, despite his smile and braid, he looked. He squeezed it gently, to reassure him of something, anything. “How did you find him?” Ash asked Yut Lung, not bothering to take his eyes from Eiji.

“That doesn’t matter, just be happy I did.” Yut Lung brushed his hair to the side. “He almost died trying to save a baby bird.” He sighed with an exasperated flair. “I had to drag him back in and climb a tree.” 

“What?” Ash asked Eiji, voice soft around the edges, like the way he looked at him. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Eiji said. 

He looked to Yut Lung again and said, “What do you mean he almost died?” 

“He was hyperventilating, writhing around on the grass and--” Yut Lung looked shaken himself. “I don’t know. He was just… in pain.”

Ash sighed, head falling from its upright position and letting go of Eiji’s hands. It was only then that he realized how dark it was in those woods-- how he could only see because of the glow from Yut Lung’s lantern. 

“Thank you,” Ash whispered. “For saving him… thank you.” 

Yut Lung grew red in the face and looked away, gathering his things from where they laid on the ground. “Forget it.” He held the lantern out towards them. “He told me his tail is taking longer than he thought it would to heal. And that you tried to put something white on him.”

“Ointment. I thought it would work but he wouldn’t let me touch him. Wait a minute-- you can speak--” 

Yut Lung pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “You tried to put ointment… on someone that’s part… fish.” Ash felt his cheeks begin to burn, realizing the idiocracy of his actions. “You absolute buffoon.” He turned to Eiji and spoke in the same jumbled language as before. Eiji’s eyes lit up. 

“I--” Ash started, shaking his head. Too many thoughts were running through him, too many questions. “But-- you understand what he’s saying. How do you--?” 

“Aslan, please,” he said before turning back to Eiji. They finished their conversation and Yut Lung brought himself back to his feet. “I’ll bring by some antiseptic herbs tomorrow and I can dress the wound then. Now, walk me back.” 

“Yut Lung, how do you--” 

“My mo--” He closed his mouth almost as if to catch the end of the sentence before it fell out. The inhabitants of the area around them shuffled in the distance, trying to finish it for him. “Can you _please walk me back_, I’m not sure I can get to the estate on my own.” 

They were all silent. Ash took hold of Eiji’s hand once more and said goodbye before moving to stand next to Yut Lung. They moved out of the clearing and back into the thicket of trees with the lantern as their only guiding light. It was a quiet walk, just the two of them. Yut Lung kept a furrowed brow and pursed lips and Ash kept his eyes on the path before them. The main house of the estate came into view, glowing yellow windows marking their arrival. 

“She was like him,” Yut Lung spoke up. “My mother. She taught me how to speak it until…” He quieted down. “She taught me enough. It’s different but it’s enough.”

“She was a mermaid?” Ash asked him. 

Yut Lung smiled halfheartedly, “Mermaids… yes, I guess she was. But Eiji isn’t a merman. Not fully. I think he’s part siren.” 

“A siren?” 

“I believe so yes,” he responded. He fell silent again as they walked closer to the house. “But I’m not sure he knows.” 

“Why do you say that?” Ash asked. 

“He hasn’t tried to drown you.” 

\--- 

The absence of Dino and Blanca from the house opened up rooms for Ash and Yut Lung to hide away and discuss what had transpired. Of course, they had to wait until everyone had fallen asleep to clamber up into the attic with the same lantern from before beneath the pale moonlight. They took the winter furniture and sat nestled there. 

Yut Lung’s mother had lived in the East China sea with her family at the start of the century. His father had called for her capture upon spotting her as he had ridden by the seaside. His men had swept the ocean with nets, deep divers, and ships killing wildlife and her relatives as they did so. She had given herself up to spare any more destruction. 

She lived in an in-ground pool in his room for years as he scoured the country for witches and healers and the supernaturally inclined to turn his bride into a human woman. 

“She never told me when or how it happened, but a shaman had been brought in from the mountains and done what my father had wanted for years.” Yut Lung had fallen into himself, knees pressed to his chest beneath his white linen nightgown. “I’m sure she went through horrible things all those years. But she never spoke of it, apart from what she felt I needed to know. I was born less than a year after she was changed, with normal human pieces and parts, something I’m sure hurt her despite the fact she never showed it. I was the only thing she had in that place, where she was just another wife and had nothing to remind her of who she had been before.” Yut Lung looked out the window they sat before. “We were happy when we were alone together. Then my father died and my half brothers came into power. A couple of months later she died too and I was sent away.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Ash said, and he meant it. 

“No need to be.” Yut Lung looked back at him. “This doesn’t make us friends, just so you know. I’m just helping you to help Eiji get back home. It’s not safe for him here.” 

Ash thought back to what the Li’s had said. “You know something.” 

“I know lots of things.” Yut Lung stood up. “And so does the Monsieur.” He dusted himself off. “He doesn’t watch me as closely as he watches you, so I can hide in his conversations. He’s been in communication with two Japanese sailors.” He extended his hand out to Ash. “And I can assure you it’s not simply a capital venture. Have you seen the cellar?” 

“The cellar?” 

“Come with me.” Ash took his hand to stand and followed him back down the ladder. They crept from the third floor to the first and made their way to Monsieur's study. Beneath the rug before his desk, there was a metal hatch in the floor. Yut Lung took a needle from his gown and picked the lock.

They went in, one after the other, lighting candles as they went along, opening up the room with each one. The walls were a dark, deep red color, ornately lined with gold accents and decorations. Inside were jars and stands, all containing different specimens. Eyes, tongues, fingers, all misshapen or out of the norm. 

“What is this place?” Ash asked. 

Taxidermied creatures, some of which he had never seen and some of them deformed, lined the walls. Animal heads, different color pelts. Teeth and claws. Insects and reptiles. Books and art and sculptures filled the spaces between them and at the center, proudly displayed with lights surrounding it… 

Was a tank.

Ash felt his hands turn to fists. 

“It’s his trophy room,” Yut Lung said. He walked forward, close enough to see his reflection in the glass walls of the tank. “Now, what do you think is meant to go in there?”


	5. the past

They took turns going to him. Twice a day. Once in the morning before breakfast, once in the evening before dinner, like clockwork. 

Every morning, Yut Lung packed herbs neatly into a wicker basket, along with lunch for him and breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Eiji. He traded his usual attire for more casual wear, having learned his lesson after ruining one too many silk pieces of his wardrobe running through the forest. 

He would go, dress his wounds, and leave him with his meals and return as quickly as he could. It was a twenty or so minute trip both ways, but he was able to cut it down to fifteen on good days when the land was dry and sturdy. On days it rained, he used more caution in his travels. 

Ash would leave almost as soon as their afternoon lessons ended. He wanted all the time he could get with Eiji, hating the thought of him being alone all day and night except for the slivers of time in the day he and Yut Lung could visit him. Whereas Yut Lung had things to do when he visited, Ash and Eiji were allowed to sit with one another, drawing and reading and trying to communicate. They had gotten pretty good... or at least better than before. 

At times, when sleep did not seek him or he couldn’t bear the silence, Ash would leave in the middle of the night, walking in the darkness until he was near enough to hear his snoring, and then he’d turn back. He'd sneak closer and watch him where he slept near the surface. Sometimes, just hearing him was enough.

________

The sun rested high in the sky, typical for late summer and a welcome treat for everyone on the coast after days of constant gloom and rain. Busybodies ran all through the estate. There would be soiree to celebrate Ash’s birthday and their academic accomplishments of the year that weekend. As the sole students of Golzine’s Home for Wayward Young Men, and the prized jewels of the crown of the coast and their families, Yut Lung and Ash would be upheld and highlighted as the pique of high society, reformed and refined in the hands of Dino Golzine. Their families, what little they both had between them, would all be in attendance.

Ash watched as the workers carted around bundles and bundles of white and red roses. In a day's time, they would scrub his skin raw, erasing a summer of scrapes and bruises, and wrestle him into formal clothing. They would do their best to tame their wild cat.

But for now, they would leave him alone and classes were to be suspended to treat them for their hard work. He could breathe.

Ash made his way into the forest, two oranges and croissants wrapped inside a kitchen towelette as a treat, in addition to the lunch in his satchel. He reached the clearing in no time, almost running on his way there, so excited to see him again after their time away, however short. 

Eiji sat perched on the edge of the pond, scales and skin shining under the sun breaking through the treetops. Delicate fingers ran through his hair, untangling and setting strands aside. Ash couldn’t see his face. Eiji's body was turned away from the clearing facing the path they had used to reach it. 

“Eiji,” Ash spoke up from behind. He turned to face him, slowly, almost like it pained him. There dark circles around his eyes, and his face had taken to a sickly yellow color. Moving closer, Ash saw how tired-- how _hollowed_\-- he had become. He’d only been gone a handful of days. How could Eiji have turned so sickly? How--

It was a dream. 

It had to be a dream. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, desperate to reveal what he hoped was the real thing-- Eiji, perched and smiling and hungry for whatever he brought him. No change. 

Ash tried not to alert him, it would only make things worse. Maybe he only _looked_ that way, maybe he was really alright. 

Eiji waved and broke into a coughing fit at his first attempt to speak (that ever gentle, always excited “hello” Ash grew accustomed to hearing). He went to his side, rubbing circles on his back until he stopped. A wind ran through the trees, leaving them behind in silence as they settled into the reality of things. 

“Okay?” he asked, cursing himself for not finding a better way to speak to him. If only he had brought Yut Lung along. If he only hadn’t been so greedy and tried to keep their time together solely _theirs_. 

Eiji almost shook his head yes, but resigned himself, instead, looking into the pond. They both knew the answer. 

Ash couldn’t look away, panic growing deep from within him. He sat down beside him and dipped his feet into the water. 

Time felt so fragile. Hoping to hold on for just a bit longer, Eiji took Ash’s hand in his own. 

He could see the worry in his face, and though they had not known each other long, Eiji knew exactly what he was thinking. 

He thought he did this to him. That he could have worked faster and harder to find a way for him to escape but instead he’d taken him into the forest— into the pond or prison or whatever title Ash’s mind preferred to call it. His guilt was palpable. But Eiji didn’t blame him-- he could never blame him for anything other than forgetting he preferred mangos to apples and apples to blueberries and even then, it was all so trivial. Whether he chose to admit it or whether Eiji could tell him or not, Ash _had_ saved him. Ash had shown him so much in so little time and within the confines of the tiny world they had built together. 

Eiji knew Ash had too much pride and felt like he deserved to handle everything alone. He hesitated to think how much he kept inside or what he’d lived through to make him that way, but the pain he saw in his eyes told him more than he needed to know. 

He couldn’t take it away— Eiji knew that. But he could ease it. He could be there with him, in that darkness. 

He squeezed his hand and said the only thing he hoped would help him bare that guilt, “You. Not alone. Together.” 

Ash looked at him, confused at first, then-- he entered the pond, fully clothed and barely breathing. He had not let go of his hand. Eiji looked at him as he waded closer, taking sharp notice of the dwindling distance between them. They both held their breaths. 

Ash cradled his face in his hands, green eyes softening for the first time since Eiji had met him. 

All they could think of, all that their minds could process, though apart, was one thing: 

_ I’ve found you_. 

_______

It was the kind of kiss to get lost in. Deep and long and brimming with thousands of years and lives of waiting and hoping to be together. Infinite. 

_______ 

Ash looked at Eiji, waiting for him to pull back or push him away. He did neither. He smiled. 

“Eiji,” Ash said his name almost reflexively. The stunted silence rushed back in, accentuating just how long they had sat there, their hands still intertwined. “I’ll fix this.” 

He didn’t understand, Ash knew that, but someplace deep inside he hoped Eiji knew what he meant. 

Eiji’s eyes twinkled under the summer sun. Even pallid, he glowed. 

They shared their meal in silence, still not letting go of each other’s hands and still not acknowledging how nice it felt to feel another person. Every now and then Eiji would squeeze his hand when Ash’s mind drifted off, bringing him back to him. 

There’s a lull in the day after all of the books were read and everything was eaten. Their hands unclasped, both of them feeling their fingers beginning to cramp. 

By mid-afternoon, Ash had a plan. He would go back into town in two days time and beg the Li Sisters for their help. They were powerful and they must have had an answer. Maybe they had wanted him to admit his mistakes, or see them first hand— maybe it was all a test and they would finally help them. And if they wouldn’t, he’d take money. He’d steal. He’d take anything valuable he could get his hands on. 

______

“Ash?” 

“Eiji?”

“Home?”

There were a million different things that question could mean. When Ash wasn’t sure how to respond, Eiji did so himself: 

“You.”

______

That night, Ash dreams of tall buildings. Of grey and bullets, of the sun and a bird-- a body, a boy-- flying high in the sky. He dreams of pain. Blood. Colors. Voices shouting and running and hiding. He dreams of a letter and not getting to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that was such a long hiatus, im sorry :( 
> 
> always appreciate feedback!


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